Media statement on the visit by Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs to Kuruman, Northern Cape to launch the Ga-Segonyana water supply project
Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Mrs. Edna Molewa, undertook a visit to the Northern Cape today on Friday, 7 March 2014.
The purpose for the visit was to launch and hand over to the Municipality the Ga- Segonyana Water Supply project. At a cost of R18.4 million, the project will reduce the water backlog in five communities including Ncweng, Lokaleng, Ga- Sehubane, Ga-Lotolo, and Ga-Ruele and provide these communities with a sustainable water source to meet all their water demands.
The project includes the source verification of nine existing boreholes, the equipping of 10 boreholes, the construction of 3.3 km of dedicated pump mains, the construction of a 10 km internal reticulation network, the construction of 4 elevated steel tanks and the supply of 96 prepaid stand pipes as part of the water backlog eradication programme.
Minister Molewa was accompanied on this visit by the Premier of the Northern Cape Ms Sylvia Lucas as well as other high ranking politicians and community leaders.
In the briefing session with the local council led by the District and Local Mayors, Speaker, councillors, municipal manager and officials, a number of issues were raised on the matter of water availability in the province but with a particular emphasis on the area of John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality which encompasses 186 settlements, with the majority being in the Joe Morolong area, an area that is mainly rural in nature and also the most poverty stricken.
“I have realised that the serious water problem here area talks to infrastructure and water availability in all areas, more so as the area is drought-stricken as we speak. There are further challenges of serious under-funding which impacts on forward planning”, said Minister Molewa.
It also came out that there is an obvious lack of capacity of the municipality in terms of operations and maintenance of infrastructure. This definitely impacts on service delivery. There is also a backlog in the provision of infrastructure in an area that is most dependent on ground water.
Minister Molewa also remarked that “this area was designated a Presidential Development Node, but it seems like it has not yet duly benefitted from that process. There also needs to be engagement with the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs on matters relating to the MIG fund so that we can see how the projects in your business plan can be assisted. As we now have the MWIG as another tool to assist in ensuring that Municipalities like one we are in today really ensures the funding designated towards water services remains so, we are emboldened that as we continue to assist the Municipality, our ideals of access to water even under tying circumstances is realised”.
The area where this project is placed falls within the area of the province with some of the richest mineral deposits, primarily iron ore and manganese. The Sishen iron-ore mine, one of the biggest open-cast mines in the world, forms the backbone of the supply of iron-ore transported through the railway line between Sishen and Saldanha Bay.
It is necessary to point out that as the work of the Strategic Infrastructure Project (SIP) 5, known as SIP 5: Saldanha-Northern Cape Development Corridor rolls out, integrated development will evolve and have a definitely positive and long- lasting impact on the area and of course the communities in and around it.
The Sedibeng Water Board operates in the area as the main water services provider in the District. As such Sedibeng manages water supply provision through the Vaal Gamagara Bulk Water Supply Scheme. This scheme supplies water to all the major towns and mines operating within the District. Further to this Sedibeng also operates a number of small rural groundwater schemes in the Ga-Segonyana municipal area.
The area also has the Kalahari East Water Users’ Association operational within it. This Association has as its primary function the supply of water to the farming community in the Kalahari which community mainly farms in cattle. This supply is augmented by water from the Vaal Gamagara Bulk Water Supply Scheme as well.
Even as Minister Molewa and her colleagues were updated on access to basic services within the area, it was apparent that there was an even bigger backlog of service provision in relation to access to basic sanitation. This phenomenon though unwelcome continues to be true in communities not just in our country but continent and world-wide. Access to sanitation is an Achilles’ heel in communities broadly but more so in the developing world.
Within this District the most severe backlogs are in the areas of the Joe Morolong Local Municipality at 13 603 and Ga-Segonyana Local Municipality at 16 288 households. In Joe Morolong, the most rural municipality with the highest dependency on groundwater, the municipality is providing dry sanitation only. In Ga-Segonyana there is a mix of dry and water-borne sanitation being provided.
Minister requested all in the meeting that the matter of water “must and should not be politicised. There is need for people as a collective to rather work together to ensure that the community benefits as a whole”.
Minister appreciated the effort of all spheres of government in managing a difficult situation in a mature manner. She also noted that like in most municipalities, two things add to the problem of water availability, and these are infrastructure and population movements.
Minister Molewa in her final words encouraged all to “apply their minds to ensure that short term intervention speaks to access to water all the time because water is a catalyst for poverty alleviation and is central to all socio-economic activity”.
At the community event there was appreciation of the efforts of government to bring services to the people. The political and local leadership impressed upon all the importance of Water Conservation and Demand Management considering the drought within the area. South Africa is among the thirty driest countries in the world and therefore there needs to be appreciation of each drop of water available to us as a country but more so in an area like the John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality.
For more information:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
E-mail: rataus@dwa.gov.za
Amogelang Moholoeng
Cell: 082 653 1682
E-mail: moholoengr@dwa.gov.za
